Weekly Dev Update #83
THORChain Weekly Dev Update for Week 83, 22–29 Feb; Zombie Node 4yd, New Multichain Testnet, Midgard Updates, ASGARDEX supports LTC
Summary
The team had to deal with a hard fork and a zombie node. Several improvements were made to the protocol out of the event. Multichain Testnet was also relaunched, since the previous one had gone insolvent due to many small bugs with ERC20s. It could have been rescued (all bugs were found and fixed) but was going to take too much time and coordination. The new network is actually stabilising and less bugs are being found. Multichain Chaosnet is expected before the end of month.
Binance Chain Hard Fork and Zombie Node 4yd
Binance Chain underwent a scheduled hard fork, the binary was provided to node operators two days ahead of time, however 8 had not updated at the time of the fork. This caused their Bifrost nodes to immediately go offline and they were partitioned off the network. They immediately began accrueing slash points and losing RUNE. The team broadcasted to all operators. The network was partially operational, but due to delegated signing, went through waves of TSS-failures since it would pick an offline node to sign. The queue began growing and users noticed delays.
12 hours later, 4 nodes still had not updated, and the queue was around 1000 transactions deep, the highest it had ever been. The community began debating banning the problematic nodes, which would cause them to be evicted (and cost the banning nodes 0.1% of their bond as a penalty).
12 hours later, all 1000 backlogged transactions were processed, but 1 node 4yd remained offline and was churned off the network. The network gave the node 25 mins to execute the automatic refund of yggdrasil assets, which it failed to do. The network then slashed the node 1.5x of the value of the assets it could not provide, around $250k, and dumped that node’s slashed RUNE bond directly into the pools. This is an autonomous function that is designed to ensure nodes cannot steal from the network.
To prevent the standby node from churning back in again and losing even more funds (this is a bug, fixed in MCTN), the team temporarily raised the bond to 800k. The network can ban that node permanently if it looks like it is about to churn back in, to prevent it from losing further funds.
The outcome of this event arose to several improvements to the network:
- Panic Bifröst if it can’t talk to all of its chains (will prevent it presenting as “ready” to churn in)
- Allow nodes to ban Standby Nodes from churning in (note, banning a node costs 0.1% of Bond)
- Reschedule Asgard Transactions if multiple Asgards available
- Split
/queueinto internal and external transactions to get clarity if the network is actually delaying swaps
Release V0.19.1
This release implemented the Bifrost Panic logic, which will save nodes from joining a network if they are not ready.
https://gitlab.com/thorchain/thornode/-/merge_requests/1518
Multichain Resources
Midgard: https://testnet.midgard.thorchain.info
THORNode: https://testnet.thornode.thorchain.info
RPC: https://testnet.rpc.thorchain.info (https://cosmos.network/rpc/v0.37.9)
Seed Service: https://testnet.seed.thorchain.info
THORNode
Multichain patches included fixes from the Zombie Node event.
Midgard
Work continues to update Midgard V2 to handle Multichain requirements.
Midgard also has received some updates to ensure it can return accurate USD pricing, as well as fee income.
XChainJS
Bridges
Actively-developed bridges will be reported here going forward. Bridges are commissioned once a team who can implement is identified and work begins.
Complete
- Bitcoin: Deployed to testnet
- Ethereum: Deployed to testnet
- BitcoinCash: Deployed to testnet
- Litecoin: Deployed to testnet
UTXO Chains
- Dogecoin: Complete, will be activated after MCCN
- ZCash: Scoped, rain-checked
Cryptonote
- Haven: MSS complete, require some updates now to finalise integration
- Monero: Pending Haven implementation
Custom
- Cardano — Scoping
- Polkadot: Ready for testnet demo, will be activated after MCCN.
- Avalanche: Rain-checked
- Zilliqa: Scoped, rain-checked
EVM Chains
- Binance Smart Chain: Likely after MCCN
- Ethereum Classic: Rain-checked
- Rootstock: Rain-checked
- Arbitrum: Rain-checked
IBC
Pending IBC integration — Cosmos, Terra, Kava, Secret Network, Injective Protocol, Sifchain, Akash Network
Clients
BEPSwap Client
Numerous UI/UX tweaks based on community feedback
ASGARDEX Client
Work continues to prepare the client for Multichain Chaosnet. V0.0.6 was released and includes LTC. Work continues on ETH and BCH.
ASGARD.EXCHANGE
Ethereum was integrated and launched. Work continues on LTC and BCH.
Community Work
The following tools receive regular updates:
Telegram Bot
Twitter Bot
Delphi Defi Dashboard
Upcoming Release for the Dashboard
https://defi.delphidigital.io/thorchain/chaosnet/network
THORChain Network Explorer
Continual Improvements, now with custom sub-domains for each net:
https://testnet.thorchain.net/
https://multichain-testnet.thorchain.net/
THORChain Official Block Explorer
https://viewblock.io/thorchain
https://dash.viewblock.io/d/thorchain
RUNEData
View historical yield and simulate future yield in pools:
RUNEBalance
View current arbitrage opportunities in the pools. New card-style overviews.
https://www.runebalance.com/#/pools
RUNEStake
RUNEStake can be used to see yield in THORChain liquidity pools.
Trading Leaderboard
View the current leaderboard for traders on THORChain
https://leaderboard.thornode.org/
GrassRootsCrypto Youtube
GrassRootsCrypto consistently puts out great educational videos on THORChain, users should subscribe and bookmark the channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuC_PiCEsNIT6HH88r7vCsw/videos
Next Milestones
Multichain support in asgard.exchange and the desktop wallet, continue to stabilise the chain. Help the community transition to Midgard V2. Anticipating chaosnet in 2–3 weeks.
Community
To keep up to date, please monitor community channels, particularly Telegram and Twitter:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thorchain_org
- Telegram Community: https://t.me/thorchain_org
- Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/thorchain
- Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/thorchain
- Github: https://github.com/thorchain
- Medium: https://medium.com/thorchain
